LEV275 Finally, how about the argument that “so few Reform Jews keep kosher--why should the Movement even pay attention to it? My very unscientific research has led me to doubt this old assumption. Yes, if you ask most Reform Jews, “Do you keep kosher?” they will reply in the negative. But if you ask them, “Do you eat pork?” a surprising number will say, “no.” If you ask them, “Do you eat shrimp or oysters?” a smaller number, but still a number, will also say, “no.” If you ask them, “Do you mix meat and milk?” some others will shake their heads as well. Our assumption that few Reform Jews keep kosher has been based on an all-or-nothing proposition. A survey of several hundred respondents among the regional URJ leaders attending the 2005 Biennial in Houston confirmed my feeling that there are many Reform Jews who keep some form of kashrut (see chapter 8). Is it legitimate to keep only some aspects of kashrut? Of course it is. Kashrut comprises a number of discrete mitzvot, and we may feel called by some of them but not necessarily by all of them. If we are to include oshek and tzaar baalei chayim in our definition, there are non-Reform Jews who according to our standards will also not keep all the mitzvot of kashrut. Such a situation would be a reminder that, for all Jews, kashrut is, as my erstwhile Hillel colleague Rabbi David Berner taught me, a continuum, on which a large number of Jews find themselves and on which many religious decisions remain before one takes all of the steps. It is a reminder, too, that Leviticus 19:2, K’doshim tihyu, “You shall become holy,” is a lifelong process. In the unique context of our own time, kashruth can be a “natural” for Reform Jews. It nurtures our yearning to deepen our spiritual lives; it responds to our classic imperatives for social justice; it brings us into closer contact with our godly role as guardians of Creation; it opens new opportunities to mingle with today's diverse population of Jews and non-Jews; it offers a variety of disciplines that can keep us from sliding into the maw of North American materialism. Freed from the restrictive bonds of the past, Reform Jews have remarkable opportunity to let kashrut flourish once again as a way to strengthen the nurturing bonds of the covenant between the Jewish people and the Creator of all life. (By Richard N. Levy, “KASHRUT: A New Freedom for Reform Jews”)